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“Cake is a vegetable” sounds like only the most wishful of thinking, doesn’t it? But wouldn’t it be nice if it were true? I’m one hundred percent on board with team vegetable, but getting all your servings in can sometimes feel like a chore. It seems doubly hard when you’re gluten-free, since the “pizza is a vegetable!” card is no longer an option.

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It’s that time again: the February blahs. In part, I blame mine on too many potatoes and too much soup.

Now don’t misunderstand: comfort food has its place, and root vegetables and slowly braised cuts of meat are definitely good candidates if your cockles need warming. But still, I can’t help but crave freshness this time of year. After days surrounded by artificially warm, mercilessly stale air, I need a little flavor, a little greenery.

Not out-of-season spinach, though, or sad February tomatoes. Aside from citrus and pomegranates, the flat, bland produce of midwinter seems almost lab-created. Artificially perfect yet fundamentally lacking, like red valentine roses bred without scent or thorn.

Granted, I do not have a gorgeous newborn book demanding every waking moment, but I understand the sentiment. In the thick of things I never fully realized it, but the last few months have been hard. Not for a specific, simply defined reason, but instead a long, toiling slog that saps your reserves and keeps you from rest. Continue reading…

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The weekend before Christmas, I had an unexplained hankering to go to the farmers’ market. Stupidly, especially considering we were flying out in less than 48 hours for a nine-day trip, I bought some potatoes and a few beautiful heads of broccoli.

Of course, by the night before our departure, we had eaten exactly none of the spuds or the broccoli. The potatoes would keep, but I couldn’t bear the thought of coming home to withered yellow broccoli. I knotted up its plastic bag and flung it in the freezer, crossing fingers that it would still be edible upon our return. Continue reading…

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As far as I can tell, I have had exactly two really uniquerecipes in the history of this blog. And were they smash hits? Not exactly. You’ve got to do something borderline inedible to stump the internet. And when you do hit on an original concept, there’s only a small group of people who are truly interested in frozen, vodka-spiked gazpacho on a stick.

I’ve found that successful food blogging is a balance, somehow satisfying a handful of interests. There’s timeliness (i.e. this should be a kale smoothie recipe), trend-awareness (and should be salted, somehow), and knowing what readers want in a recipe (5 ingredients, 30 minutes) or even in a blog post, for that matter (250 words, professional-grade photos). What I actually want to post about seems almost irrelevant.

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The last two three weeks, the stars have aligned against my putting up a post here. Despite being awfully busy, I’ve been maddeningly unproductive.

We spent a week at home for Thanksgiving, which I was of course excited about until we actually arrived. Then I wanted to go home. (Ain’t family great?) I can’t even think about going back for Christmas, and yet it’s happening.

On the flight home, a woman knocked my camera case out of the overhead bin while rummaging for a water bottle. It landed with a gut-wrenching thud in the aisle. It seemed fine, but I didn’t have time to check it properly because I walked straight off a red-eye flight into the insanity that is exam season. Continue reading…

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Apples and cheese are my favorite snack. I slice and core an apple before work, give it a quick soak in some lemon- or vinegar-spiked water to prevent browning, and take the slices with me in a reusable sandwich bag. (The one with apples on it, of course.)

Like everything else I eat, it is apparently cause for a bit of a stir in the office.

“Apples and cheese?” our custodian said incredulously when he poked his head in my office one day. And then, concerned, “You pregnant?”

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the adventures of a girl and her favorite spoon

Welcome to my virtual kitchen! There's always something simple and delicious (or at least interesting) happening here. Pull up a chair and hang out for a bit.
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